The Unkillable One? Come Out, Rice Cooker! No, Evil Containment Wave!

A ball of pure light gathered and compressed in Edward's palm, giving off an aura utterly out of place in this blood-soaked warehouse.

It was neither scorching nor violent, yet it contained a supreme authority of judgment aimed at the very essence of evil.

Soul-Severing Clown At, who had been fooling around with a balloon, seemed to sense the threat of this power as well. His comical hopping stopped. Tilting his head, his hollow gaze shifted from Edward to the light in his palm for the first time.

"The game is over." Edward's voice held not a trace of warmth.

The instant he spoke, he thrust out his palm. The Purifying Light became a beam of pure white radiance. It made no sound, yet it swallowed Clown At in an unstoppable instant.

"Sizzle—"

A teeth-grating sound rose, like a wet towel being tossed into boiling oil.

Enveloped by the beam, At's body twisted violently. His black-and-white clown suit began to dissolve first, turning into wisps of black smoke.

Then came the body made of unknown material. Under the Purifying Light, he was like snow beneath the blazing sun. The surface of his skin rapidly vaporized, exposing an even blacker, thicker substance beneath.

He made no scream, because he had no vocal cords.

But his exaggerated painted smile warped violently under the erosion of the light, stretching one moment and compressing the next, as if performing a silent, agonizing pantomime.

Edward expressionlessly increased his energy output.

He could feel it. This power of Purification was the natural nemesis of something like At.

The beam grew even more brilliant, lighting the entire dim warehouse as brightly as day.

At the warehouse entrance, Tara and Dewen, who had just reached the door and were preparing to flee for their lives, were blinded by the sudden glare.

They could only peer through their fingers in terror as the figure of the horrifying clown at the center of the beam gradually turned transparent, then vanished completely.

The light faded.

On the floor at the center of the warehouse, only a faintly blackened scorch mark remained.

The Soul-Severing Clown who had brought Hell-like terror, along with his garbage bag full of murder weapons, had been vaporized without a trace, as though he had never existed in this world.

Even the thick stench of blood in the air seemed to have been greatly weakened by that holy power.

"Is that all?"

Edward lowered his hand and looked at the empty ground, a ripple stirring in his heart.

He had thought there would be a fierce battle. He had not expected the opponent's resistance to be so low.

Other than that bizarre immortality, this so-called demon was utterly vulnerable before Purification Power.

What was the point of recovering quickly? Rip him out by the roots and erase him from the concept itself. Let's see how he recovers then.

The thought had barely crossed his mind.

"Watch out!"

"Behind you!"

Two hoarse screams filled with utter terror came from the warehouse entrance. They were Tara and Dewen's voices.

Edward's battle instincts had long since seeped into his bones. His brain did not even need to issue an order; his body had already made its fastest response.

He spun around sharply, his right leg lashing backward like an iron whip with a howl that tore through the air.

"Bang!"

A dull impact rang out.

His foot struck something solid.

A tremendous force erupted. The figure that had just appeared behind him had no time to react before being kicked flying. It crashed viciously into the distant container wall with a thunderous boom.

Edward steadied himself and looked toward the thing he had sent flying.

The familiar black-and-white clown suit, the familiar painted smile, the familiar little black top hat.

It was Soul-Severing Clown At.

He slid down from the wall completely unharmed, then stood up as if nothing had happened. He even patted away dust that did not exist.

For the first time, a trace of astonishment appeared on Edward's face.

What was going on?

He had sensed it clearly just now. At's existence had been completely erased by Purification Power. Not even a trace of residue remained.

This was not regeneration, nor was it resurrection.

It was more like... a respawn.

Like a monster in a game reappearing at its spawn point after being killed.

At did not give him much time to think.

Edward's reaction speed seemed to have piqued his interest. Abandoning the two easy prey at the entrance, he resumed that eerie gait and walked toward Edward step by step.

"Interesting."

Edward's curiosity had been stirred.

He decided to conduct an experiment and figure out this monster's operating mechanism.

Facing the approaching At, he raised his dual pistols again.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

This time, his shots were extremely deliberate. The bullets fired by Ebony and Ivory precisely blasted At's left arm, right leg, and most of his torso into fragments, splattering black viscous fluid across the floor. But he deliberately left At's right arm and half of the chest connected to his head intact.

Sure enough, after wriggling a few times on the ground, the scattered chunks lost their vitality and turned into pools of black water. Meanwhile, the remaining part of At's body became like a living tumor of flesh, wildly proliferating and writhing. In merely two or three seconds, it reassembled into a complete form.

So that's how it is. Regeneration uses the largest remaining piece as its core, Edward realized.

Then what would happen if he destroyed him completely?

He extended his right hand again, gathering Purifying Light in his palm. This time, he controlled the range of the light carefully, vaporizing ninety-nine point nine percent of At's body and leaving only a tiny, twitching pinky finger in a white glove on the floor.

The next second, something horrifying happened.

That little finger expanded and deformed like an inflated balloon. Flesh, bones, and clothing formed out of thin air. In the span of a single breath, a complete At "grew" out of that tiny finger once more.

He stood up, looked at his new body, then at Edward. His smile stretched even wider.

Edward frowned.

He understood.

As long as even the slightest bit of "information" remained, this monster could use it as a medium to regenerate without limit.

"Then... one hundred percent removal."

Edward took a deep breath and held nothing back.

The blazing Purifying Light erupted for the third time, forming a massive sphere of light that engulfed At completely.

This time, he used Telekinesis EX to lock down every inch of space At occupied, ensuring he would be annihilated thoroughly, completely, without a single blind spot.

After the light faded, At disappeared once again.

Edward's perception instantly spread through the entire warehouse, leaving no corner unchecked.

One second.

Two seconds.

Just as Edward thought he had finally succeeded, a surge of pure malice erupted without warning from the warehouse ceiling beam.

At appeared out of thin air. Hanging upside down like a spider, he silently watched Edward below.

This monster simply had no concept of "death."

Destroying him completely would only trigger his "respawn" mechanism, allowing him to revive in perfect condition anywhere nearby.

Leaving part of him behind instead could confine him in place to "regenerate."

This was an existence that could not be killed.

A "phenomenon" existing purely to spread fear and torment.

"What a... troublesome piece of trash."

Edward lost his patience for continuing to play with him. Since he could not kill him, he would deal with him another way.

Ignoring At on the beam, he turned toward the two girls at the entrance, who were nearly on the verge of a mental breakdown from fear, and ordered in an unquestionable tone, "Find me a bottle. Any bottle will do."

Tara and Dewen froze for a moment. Although they did not understand why, their survival instincts made them act immediately. They frantically rummaged through the piles of trash near the entrance.

Soon, Dewen came scrambling over with a dusty glass soda bottle, trembling as she handed it to Edward.

Edward took the bottle and glanced at it.

At had jumped down from the beam as well. He seemed intensely interested in the bottle in Edward's hand, tilting his head as he approached step by step.

Edward placed the bottle on the ground beside his feet, then looked up at the approaching clown.

"Come on. I'll show you a magic trick."

His hands rapidly formed several strange seals before his chest. An aura completely unlike the purifying Holy Light, deep and ancient, radiated from him.

"Evil—Containment—Wave!"

With a low shout, Edward thrust both hands forward.

A green spiral beam burst from his palms, instantly forming a massive vortex of energy that completely enveloped Soul-Severing Clown At as he approached step by step.

At seemed stunned. He felt an irresistible, powerful suction pulling at his body.

For the first time, he stopped his eerie steps and tried to struggle. But before this energy specifically meant for sealing, his bizarre power seemed completely useless.

His body was stretched and twisted, and that painted smile became a comical spiral.

The green energy vortex, carrying the captured At, began to rapidly contract. Its final destination was the tiny glass soda bottle on the ground.